Reports of other victims halt sex-crime trial

Jury selection in a sexual assault trial came to a halt Tuesday after authorities told the court there may be more victims.

Corina Curry

Jury selection in a sexual assault trial came to a halt Tuesday after authorities told the court there may be more victims.

Ryan Gaertner, 22, is accused of forcing sex on three women — at least two of whom were between the ages of 13 and 17 — on three different occasions between October 2002 and February 2003.

“We have been contacted by individuals who gave us information that leads us to believe there are other individuals who have been victimized by this defendant,” said prosecutor Geannette Wittendorf outside the courtroom. “We are making all possible attempts to track them down and verify their information to present it to the court. We want to be able to give the jury in this case the full picture of all of the facts for them to consider in their determination.”

On Tuesday, as attorneys prepared to complete jury selection in Gaertner’s trial, Wittendorf informed the court that individuals contacted her office after reading about the charges against Gaertner in Tuesday’s Rockford Register Star. She told the judge that based on the phone calls authorities believe there may be more victims.

Prosecutors have until 8:30 a.m. today to nail down the specifics and identify any additional victims or witnesses who may be called to testify in the case.

Gaertner’s attorney, Dan Cain, said the state’s attorney’s office is misleading the court.

“The state’s attorney’s office told the judge this morning that they were contacted by new victims. The judge said to present the detective with the information, and then we learn that really no victims came forward,” Cain said. “They haven’t really spoken to the people and don’t even know the last name of one of them. These are mystery witnesses at this point.”

Cain said he doesn’t have a problem with late-arriving information, but isn’t happy about what he believes is false representation.

“I’m very, very skeptical that this will turn into anything that will result in any additional victim-type witnesses,” he said.

Presiding Judge Joe McGraw is expecting Rockford police Detective Jeff Schelling, lead investigator on the case, to take the stand this morning to tell the court about the new information.

Jury selection in the case started late Monday. The trial is expected to begin later this week.

Gaertner, who attended high school in Rockford and has been a student at Arizona State University in recent years, faces three counts of criminal sexual assault and two counts of criminal sexual abuse stemming from allegations that began surfacing in August 2003.

According to charging documents in the case, Gaertner assaulted the two teenage girls in Winnebago County in November 2002 when he was 17. The other alleged offense against the third victim, whose age was not mentioned in court, took place between October 2002 and February 2003, also in Winnebago County.

If found guilty of criminal sexual assault against all three women, Gaertner faces a maximum punishment of 45 years in prison.

According to state law, charges of criminal sexual assault against people under the age of 18 can be brought against alleged assailants up to 20 years after a victim’s 18th birthday. Charges in the case against Gaertner first were filed in August 2003. A new indictment, increasing the charges to include felony criminal sexual assault, was filed against him in January 2006.

Staff writer Corina Curry can be reached at 815-987-1395 or ccurry@rrstar.com.